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7 - Grid Generation - CFD - PVS

The document discusses grid generation methods used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), focusing on structured, body-fitted, block-structured, and unstructured grids. It highlights the limitations of Cartesian grids for complex geometries and presents body-fitted grids as a solution for better representation of curvatures. Additionally, it explains the advantages of block-structured and unstructured grids in handling irregular geometries and improving computational efficiency.

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12 views31 pages

7 - Grid Generation - CFD - PVS

The document discusses grid generation methods used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), focusing on structured, body-fitted, block-structured, and unstructured grids. It highlights the limitations of Cartesian grids for complex geometries and presents body-fitted grids as a solution for better representation of curvatures. Additionally, it explains the advantages of block-structured and unstructured grids in handling irregular geometries and improving computational efficiency.

Uploaded by

NITHIN PAWAR
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Grid Generation

Dr. P. V. Suresh
Professor

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING


NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY WARANGAL
• Grids for the computational domains can be of two types broadly:
Structured and Unstructured
• In a structured grid arrangement:
▪ Grid points are placed at the intersection of coordinates lines
▪ Interior grid points have a fixed number of neighbouring grid points
▪ Grid points can be mapped into a matrix; their location in the grid structure
and in the matrix is given by indices (I, J in 2-D & I, J, K in 3-D)
• The structured meshes include: Cartesian meshes; Body-fitted meshes; Block-
structured meshes

• All the techniques of solving fluid flow equations discussed till now were based on
discretisation procedures using the Cartesian coordinate system.
• Extension of the methods developed using Cartesian coordinates to other
orthogonal coordinate systems (cylindrical, spherical etc. ) is relatively
straightforward, provided that we write down the governing equations using the
appropriate form of the div and grad operators for the chosen coordinate system
(Bird et al. for relevant operator definitions)

• However, many engineering problems involve complex geometries that do not fit
exactly in Cartesian coordinates or one of the other systems.
• When the flow boundary does not coincide with the coordinate lines of a
structured grid, we could proceed by approximating the geometry.
• For e.g. consider a two dimensional calculation of the flow past a half cylinder
• The only way to represent the curved surface of the half cylinder in a Cartesian
coordinate system is to use a stepwise approximation.

• Such an approximate boundary description is tedious and time consuming to setup.


• The cells inside the solid part of the cylinder do not take part in the calculations => wastage
of computer storage and resources.
• Stepwise representation of the smooth cylinder wall introduces errors in the computation of
wall shear stresses, heat fluxes etc.
• These errors can be reduced by introducing a very fine mesh to cover the wall regions =>
further wastage of computer storage due to unnecessary refinement in interior regions
where this of minimal interest.
• Hence, CFD methods based on Cartesian or cylindrical coordinate systems have
limitations in irregular geometries.
• Practically important flows with complex geometries are plentiful and include
building configurations, furnaces, combustion chambers in IC engines, stirred
tank reactors, turbomachinery, etc.
• In such cases, it would obviously be much more advantageous to work with
grids that can handle curvature and geometric complexity more naturally.
Body-Fitted grids
• These are structured curvilinear grids, which are based on the mapping of the flow
domain onto a computational domain with a simple shape.
• Cartesian grid is distorted to fit the shape of the flow domain and retain the
“structured grid” characteristic in which the grid points are still at the intersection
of lines of constant coordinate (but not necessarily mutually orthogonal) directions.
• These techniques can deal effectively with flows such as the half cylinder problem
etc.

• When the geometry becomes very complex, finding viable mappings would be
quite difficult and hence this method may not be preferred.
• In these cases, sometimes, it would be advantageous to sub-divide the flow
domain into several different sub-regions or blocks, each of which is meshed
separately and joined up correctly with its neighbours. This leads to so-called
block-structured grids, which are considerably more flexible than Cartesian or
body-fitted meshes.
• There are two types of body-fitted coordinate system:
(i) Orthogonal curvilinear coordinates
(ii) Non-orthogonal coordinates
• Orthogonal curvilinear mesh – grid lines are perpendicular at intersections.
• Non-orthogonal body fitted grid – grid lines do not intersect at 90o angles.

Non-Orthogonal body fitted mesh for flow over a cylinder

Orthogonal curvilinear mesh for flow around an aerofoil

• In both types of body-fitted girds, all the domain boundaries coincide with
coordinate lines, so geometrical details can be incorporated accurately without
the need for stepwise approximations.
• Grids can also be refined easily to capture important flow features.
• Consider a part of heat exchanger tube
bank where CFD can be used to predict the
flow field.
• Considering the symmetry, only the
shaded region of the geometry needs to
be considered.

Cartesian grid using an approximated profile to represent cylindrical surfaces Non-Orthogonal body fitted mesh for flow between cylinders

Predicted flow pattern using a 40 x 15 Cartesian grid Predicted flow pattern using a 40 x 15 structured body-fitted grid
• In spite of the advantages of curvilinear body-fitted grids over simple Cartesian
grids such as efficient use of computational resources, proper representation
of curvatures, the following problems are encountered with general
orthogonal and non-orthogonal structured grids:

▪ Still difficult and time consuming to generate

▪ If the solution domain cannot be readily mapped into a rectangle (in 2D)
or rectangular parallelepiped (in 3D) this can result in skewed grid lines
causing unnecessary local variations

▪ Unnecessary grid resolutions can result in cases where mapping is difficult

▪ Mapping is sometimes impossible with complex 3D geometries with


internal objects / parts.
Block-structured grids
• To overcome the problems associated with structured grid generation for
complex geometries, block-structured CFD methods have been developed.
• In this, the domain is sub-divided into regions, each of which has a structured
mesh.

• The mesh structure in each region can


be different, and it is even possible to
use different coordinate systems.

• Such meshes are more flexible than


single block structured meshes.

• The block structured approach allows


the use of fine grids in regions where
greater resolution is required. Block-structured mesh for an aerofoil. Inset shows cut cells near
aerofoil surface.

• The interfaces of adjacent blocks may have grids on either side that are
matching or non-matching, but, either way, they must be properly
treated in a fully conservative manner.
• The block structured grid combines the advantages of
Cartesian grids – easy to generate, equations simple to discretize and solve
Curvilinear grids – the ability to accommodate curved complex boundaries.

• Block-structured meshes are extremely useful in handling complex geometries that


consist of several geometrical sub-components such as IC engine pent roof cylinder and
inlet port geometry.

Block-structured mesh arrangement for an engine


geometry, including inlet and exhaust ports, used
in engine simulations with KIVA-3V
Unstructured grids
• An unstructured grid can be thought of as a limiting case of a multi-block grid
where each individual cell is treated as block.
• The advantage of such an arrangement is that no implicit structure of
coordinate lines is imposed by the grid – hence the name unstructured – and
the mesh can easily be concentrated where necessary without wasting
computer storage.
• Moreover, control volumes may have
any shape, and there are no
restrictions on the number of adjacent
cells meeting at a point (2D) or along a
line (3D).

• In practical CFD,
✓ triangles or quadrilaterals are
most often used for 2D problems
✓ tetrahedral or hexahedral
elements in 3D ones.

A triangular unstructured grid for a three-element aerofoil in 2D.


• The most attractive feature of the unstructured mesh is that it allows the
calculation of flows in or around geometrical features of arbitrary complexity
without having to spend a long time on mesh generation and mapping.
• Grid generation is fairly straightforward (especially with triangular and
tetrahedral grids), and automatic generation techniques, originally developed
for finite element methods are now widely available.
• Furthermore, mesh refinement and adaption are much easier in unstructured
meshes.
• In unstructured grid, we are not restricted to one particular cell type, but is
possible to use a mixture of cell shapes.
• In 2D, a mixture of triangular and quadrilateral elements can be used and
• In 3D, combination of tetrahedral and hexahedral elements can be used.
Such grids are called hybrid meshes.

• A hybrid unstructured mesh for the calculation of flow in a tube bank where
quadrilateral cells used near solid walls to provide better resolution of the
viscous effects in the boundary layers and an expanding triangular mesh
structure elsewhere to utilize the resources efficiently.
Discretization in Unstructured grids
• There are two ways of defining CVs in unstructured meshes:
-- Cell centred CVs – Nodes are placed at the centroid of the CV
-- Vertex centred CVs – Nodes are placed on the vertices of the grid

Cell centred CV Vertex centred CV

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